Frenchman Bruno Cavellec has written the soundtrack for an award-winning videopoetry film.

Cavellec, who also goes by the moniker ‘Mablanig’ for music-related projects, made a significant contribution to the film ‘Nine Moons’, which recently won the award for ‘Best International Poetry Short’ at the Bloomsday Film Festival in Dublin.

Cavellec collaborated with director Janet Lees, with the two of them working together to produce a nine minute ‘videopoetry triptych’.

Speaking about the film, Janet said: ‘This was an ambitious project and a true multidisciplinary collaboration from the start.

‘Mablanig is also a well-known painter, and his paintings have always touched me deeply.

‘It’s the same with his music. There’s something he does, an interweaving of darkness and light, sorrow and bliss, whether in paint or musical notes, that completely resonates with me. His voice is quietly devastating.

‘We set out to make a triptych, incorporating Mablanig’s music and painting, my poetry and film/photography and both of our voices.’

Janet used to live in the island and her mother’s family is Manx, while Bruno has been living and working in Peel since 2011.

Because they live in different countries, the two of them used Zoom to hold several sessions in which they talked generally and then more specifically about the project.

Janet added: ‘We already knew we had a lot in common, and then through these sessions we discovered many more commonalities.

‘Through this process we realised that we wanted to bring more of ourselves to the work. This manifested in the form of personal photographs of people close to us, which Mablanig then edited into some of my photographs of abandoned and derelict places.

‘This sequence forms the third part of our triptych, in which the music, visuals and text comes together in a way that feels to me as seamless and transcending, and which for both of us is a deeply emotional experience.’

Bruno spent 25 years designing album covers and film posters, before turning to composing and releasing his first album in 2022.

Discussing Nine Moons, he said: ‘Ever since I first saw Janet’s videopoems, I’ve been an admirer of her very distinctive style and powerful narrative. With her work, it’s almost as if I discovered a brand new language which is unique and expressive and which I find deeply moving and inspiring.

‘There is such beauty and a great sense of aesthetic in what Janet creates. This collaboration was a dream come true - a soul-to-soul project.’

The award was received during the festival in Dublin with words of glowing praise from judges. They said: ‘Nine Moons is a powerful poem, with haunting music and highly artistic imagery of a stark moonscape, moonlit landscape and snippets of a world of yesteryear.

‘It is a feast for the senses. So expertly rendered, one is felt with the feeling of having been on a journey to a lonely un-space, where loss, love and sadness meet.’

The nine-minute film had its online premiere on Friday, June 28. You can find this on Youtube by searching ‘Mablanig Nine Moons’.